With the COVID-19 pandemic encouraging people to get outside to get fresh air in order to stay healthier, creating an outdoor entertaining area has become more than just building a “pretty garden”, but more of a health necessity. Across the nation, people are cleaning up their once messy yards, patios, and garden areas in order to have a safer, cleaner, healthier place to gather in small quantities. The landscape on outdoor entertaining has changed; tight enclosed rooms are out, and healthy open-airy outdoor areas are in.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), virus particles disperse more easily outdoors when social distancing is maintained. Whether you live in the arctic north or the hot south, design planning for your 2021 landscaping and outdoor garden area should start now so homeowners can create a safer area outdoors.
Outdoor Lifestyle in the Pandemic
Below are several ideas on where you might boost your landscape and outdoor entertaining areas for a safer and more rewarding outdoor entertaining experience during the pandemic.
- Socializing Space – Standing or sitting six feet – or more – apart from one another is one of the CDC’s suggested practices. Creating an outdoor living area that enables homeowners to spread out chairs, tables, and seating areas enables a safer outdoor environment. Have children? Chalk off lines on the ground or patio floor to designate safe seating areas. Chilly? Add blankets over the chairs for guests to snuggle into.
- Edible gardens – Plan an edible garden if you are concerned about food security in this challenging time. More than just a “vegetable garden”, edible gardens can involve fruiting shrubs and trees, perennial herbs, vegetables, and flowers. Planting more edibles can make your landscape both useful and tasty.
- Hot and Cold Entertaining – Patio heaters, outdoor fire pits, chimineas, propane heaters, and fans are important tools to help extend the season in your patio, balcony, or garden. Keeping the air more comfortable on a cold evening or hot day can keep you outside socially-distanced for a longer period of time.
- Home Outdoor Office – In temperate climates, more and more people are moving their home offices outdoors when possible. Set up a small desk on a picnic table in a covered patio or sitting area if you live in an area that stays warm year-round. Beyond giving the homeowner fresh air, it also represents a comfortable place to meet local clients.
- The Grill Zone – Build an outdoor kitchen. Cooking outdoors on a grill is a smart way of “killing the virus” and can be an important part of a patio landscape design. If you build your own kitchen for grilling or outdoor pizza making, be cautious of cross contamination. Without a doubt, the grill heat will kill the virus, however, serve meat directly off the grill so that there is no cross contamination. Your outdoor kitchen build plan should enable people to easily move around the area without a bottle-neck that might force people too close together who are sharing the space.
Download iScape now and utilize the app for outdoor lifestyle landscape designs that encourage spaces for living outdoors during the pandemic and beyond. iScape it!
